Injury subs for Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker have had mixed results: the history

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With replacement kickers, you take your chances.

Harrison Butker will miss 3-4 games after having surgery to trim the meniscus in his left knee Friday morning. That would put him back on the field before the end of the regular season.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid said the injury occurred in practice this week.

The stand-in for Butker this weekend (and beyond, for now) is Spencer Shrader, an undrafted rookie who has appeared in two NFL games this season. In Week 1, he made all three extra points for the Colts as a replacement for Indy’s starter; then he returned to the practice squad and was later released.

Shrader later was picked up by the New York Jets and got into his first game for them last weekend. The Jets fell to the Arizona Cardinals; Shrader provided New York its only points, making both field goal attempts — from 25 and 45 yards — in a 31-6 loss.

“His resume isn’t long,” Reid said, “but the (kicks) he has had, he’s done well with that. He has a very strong leg.”

Chiefs punter Matt Araiza, Kansas City’s special teams holder for field goal and extra point attempts, said it’s business as usual with Shrader.

“A lot of communication,” Araiza said. ”We’re making sure we’re all on the same page.”

Speaking of Araiza, he was a kicker in college who made nearly 74% of his field goal tries. Why not make Araiza the kicker?

Someone else would have to hold ... and Araiza is left-footed.

“If we had brought in a lefty this week, it would have made my job (as a holder) really hard,” Araiza said. “I probably would have wanted to catch holds for hours, because it’s way different.”

The Jets, who were on their third kicker in three games, didn’t offer Shrader a spot on their 53-man roster. When the call from the Chiefs came Thursday, Shrader accepted their invite.

Butker has been one of the NFL’s top kickers throughout his career. He ranks third on the league’s career field goal accuracy list at 89.2%. He holds records for the longest field goal in Super Bowl history (57 yards) and most career Super Bowl field goals (nine).

Shrader became the fifth player to kick for the Chiefs since Harrison Butker joined the team in 2017.

In 2021, Butker landed on the COVID-19 list and missed a Week 16 home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Elliott Fry went 3-of-4 on field goal attempts and 3 for 4 on extra points in the Chiefs’ 36-10 victory. Butker was back the next week.

Butker’s longest downtime came in 2022, when he missed four games and part of a fifth after injuring his plant-leg ankle — he slipped on the turf on the kickoff following the Chiefs’ first touchdown in their season opener at Arizona.

Safety Justin Reid handled kickoffs that day and went 1 for 2 on extra points. Butker actually returned to the game and hit a 54-yard field goal, as well as three extra points.

But he missed the next four games. So the Chiefs signed Matt Ammendola, who made both field goal tries and all three extra points in a Week 2 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.

The next week, against the Colts, was a disaster. Ammendola missed an extra point and a 34-yard field goal in a 20-17 loss. He was cut the next day, and the Chiefs signed Matthew Wright.

The highlight of Wright’s two-game stint was a club-record 59-yard field goal just before halftime in a game at Las Vegas. The Chiefs won both games with Wright kicking.

Butker returned the next week. And in his first game back he replaced Wright’s name in the Chiefs record books with a 62-yarder against this weekend’s opponent: the Buffalo Bills.

Add it up and the Chiefs’ replacements for Butker are a combined 9 for 12 on field goal attempts and 15-of-18 on extra points.

Butker himself became the Chiefs’ starting placekicker as a replacement for an injured starter: Cairo Santos had been the team’s kicker since 2014 but was struggling with a groin injury in 2017.

After the Chiefs’ Week 3 game that year, the Chiefs cut Santos and signed Butker off the Carolina Panthers’ practice squad. He’s been their starter ever since, and in he signed a contract making him the highest-paid kicker in the NFL.

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